MIAMI NATION

State what you are going to do in this world before you die to make it a better place. Here are some of the most important things for you to think about in writing your essay.

1. BE VERY SPECIFIC, NOT GENERAL. The more specific you are the better the essay will be. Don’t mention your spouse without giving the persons name. Don’t just say you have three children; list their names and ages, even their characteristics.

2. BE VERY PERSONAL. Mention names, dates, persons, events, times, and other things to paint a word picture about you. Make it possible for the reader to see you in their (minds eye). Being very impersonal is a huge mistake. Don’t mention anyone without giving the person’s name such a father, mother, son, daughter, spouse, teacher, etc.

3. BE VERY GOAL ORIENTED. Applicants seeking money to go to college are not nearly as successful as applicants seeking funds to be an engineer, a doctor, a teacher, a nurse, and so on. In other words, this is being specific about your career. If you have no idea what you want to do with your life, come as close as you can, and go with that. If you think you want to be an architect, it is better to plan to do that and change your mind later than to have no plans as your seek scholarship funds.

4. LEAVE NO QUESTIONS UNANSWERED. This is a common mistake. To take one example: My husband and I moved from Tohatchi to Albuquerque three years ago with no further explanations about this sentence. What is your husband’s name? Why did you move to Albuquerque? What type of work does your husband do? Is he supportive of your efforts to get a college degree? Was it a positive move or a negative move meaning was the law after you in Tohatchi?

5. NAME NAMES. Don’t just say something about you counselor in high school; give the person’s name and something about the person, such as the fact that they have been at the school for 12 years and has sent hundreds of students off to college successfully. Give the names and occupations of your siblings and offspring, their occupations, their roles in your life, and so on.

6. MAKE THEM CRY. Most of the students we serve have had some trauma in their lives. It might have been the death of the father, domestic abuse, problems with alcohol or drugs by someone in the family, poverty, separation or divorce, problems with the law, and so on. If you have had to cope with something like that, you need to go into detail and explain it, and explain how you overcame it. For instance, a lady called to ask for help with her son, who wants to get a master’s degree. When asked to make the essay readers cry, she asked, “then should I tell them how my husband died and left me and my son and daughter with little support, and how they struggled to finish high school and now both have college degrees?”

Yes, absolutely. Your essay should be about five pages long. After you have written the five pages, boil them down to two pages, then to one page. But you must write the five-pager first!

Make it 11 point type, singled-spaced within paragraphs, double spaced between paragraphs. Set your margins at an inch and half all around. Use conventional type styles- no italics or cutesy-pie type styles. Break it up into about eight paragraphs per page. Make you average sentence length no more than 15 words.

This essay has to be the best piece of writing you have ever done. It has to get a grade of better than an A. It has to get an A+.